1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to rail car door closures and, more particularly, to rail car door closures that are attached to opposite ends of a rotating axle with an actuating mechanism that is attached to and covered by an elongated main frame tent structure with cam closures for pressing against the rail car door to cause the rail car door to close during rotation of the axle.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Railroad cars are used to carry bulk commodities with the most common bulk commodity being coal to provide energy and power. Other bulk commodities may be grain, aggregate, phosphate or other similar type materials. The railroad car used to carry bulk commodities normally has hopper doors on the bottom thereof that swing downward when unloading. These hopper doors on the bottom of a railroad car typically weigh about 200-300 pounds each and are difficult to close manually even under ideal conditions. After a period of extended wear, the hopper doors may become bent or warped making the closing of the hopper doors manually even more difficult.
Over the years, numerous injuries to railroad workers have been involving the closing of the heavy hopper doors. The manual closing of the hopper doors takes two people under even ideal conditions. A warped, bent or worn hopper door becomes even more difficult to close.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,473 to Marchiori et al shows a type of rail car door closure having a chain drive or cable with a rotatable member attached thereto. By turning the rotatable member into the upper direction, followed by forward and reverse motion of the chain or cable, rail car doors are closed by force exerted against the door from the rotatable member. However, the system as shown in Marchiori et al has certain limitations involving primarily the installation and maintenance of the mechanism.
A different version of a door car opener and closer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,022 to Marchiori et al that is a fairly complicated rail car door opener and closer combination. The opener portion is not applicable to the present invention and will only work on certain types of door locks. The system as shown in the '022 patent can only be installed at locations that provide enough clearance from the railroad track to install and operate the system.
Another type of rail car door closure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,464 to Clarke. The system as shown in Clarke has a bell crank assembly which actuates arms that press against the hopper door to cause closure thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,262 to Turpin, Sr. shows a railroad hopper car door closure with wheels mounted on the end of a pair of laterally extending arms to cause closure of the hopper doors. The system as shown in Turpin is located outside the railroad tracks and is not protected from falling bulk commodity.